The purpose of this paper is to verify the existence of a gender unbalance regarding choice of quantitatively oriented masters’ programs at a business school. The aim, further, is to analyze variables potentially affecting this unbalance: interest in quantitative matters, perceived competence regarding quantitative subjects and measures of quantitative knowledge.,Empirical data was collected through a survey of 203 students at a Swedish business school. A measure of quantitative orientation was developed to assess the level of nine masters’ programs at the school. A regression analysis was used to identify the impact of gender and the other explanatory variables.,The results indicate that there is a gender unbalance: female students choose master programs perceived to be less quantitatively oriented. However, when studying gender together with level of interest, perceived competence and objective knowledge, the direct gender effect disappears. Instead, a strong positive effect of interest in quantitative matters emerges, as does an indirect effect of gender through the mediating variable level of interest.,The dual importance of level of interest influences the pedagogical suggestions made. Interpersonal contact between teacher and student and use of technology are suggested to raise the level of interest. To reduce the indirect effect of gender through interest, a suggestion is made to work with stereotype threats.,The paper addresses a topic of importance: the potential gender unbalance as regards qualitative orientation. It manages to nuance the picture of the importance of gender – and through the introduction of level of interest suggests a productive path forward.

中文翻译：

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性别对教育选择的影响：统计学兴趣的中介作用

本文的目的是验证在商学院选择定量导向的硕士课程时是否存在性别失衡。进一步的目的是分析可能影响这种不平衡的变量：对定量问题的兴趣，有关定量主题的感知能力和定量知识的度量。通过对瑞典商学院203名学生的调查收集了经验数据。制定了量化方向的措施，以评估学校九个硕士课程的水平。回归分析被用来确定性别和其他解释变量的影响。结果表明存在性别失衡：女学生选择被认为数量取向较少的硕士课程。然而，在研究性别，兴趣程度，感知能力和客观知识时，直接的性别效应消失了。取而代之的是，人们对量化问题产生了强烈的积极影响，通过中介性的不同的兴趣水平，性别产生了间接影响。兴趣水平的双重重要性影响了所提出的教学建议。建议教师和学生之间的人际联系以及技术的使用，以提高兴趣水平。为了通过兴趣减少性别的间接影响，提出了应对刻板印象威胁的建议。本文提出了一个重要的主题：在定性取向方面潜在的性别失衡。